Dopamine, and how to find it

Three years after the release of my first solo album, Oxytocin & Adrenaline, I’m embarking upon the release of album number two, Dopamine, with four songs already out and eight more to follow. I’m welcoming back that mix of anticipation, relief, nervousness and sheer joy that accompanies sending the songs you’ve laboured over out into the world.

So, why the album title? Is it simply a meaningless nod to the first album title, a bit of a gimmick, maybe? Well, no, actually it really feels like a good fit to me. Let me explain why.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a messenger in our brains. It’s perhaps best known for its role in producing a feeling of pleasure as part of our brain’s reward system, but it’s implicated in memory, movement, motivation, mood and attention as well. There are some conditions associated with a deficit of dopamine, like ADHD, or an excess of it, like addiction.

Writing songs, working on arrangements and mixes, and playing them with my band, are all sources of great joy to me, and I tend to use them as a reward for myself. Right now, I have a whole stack of recorded parts sitting there ready to be incorporated into my mixes – just like a big pile of Christmas presents! When I’ve got everything done each day, I reward myself with a little bit of time in the evening working on my songs. So writing and working on these songs always gives me a little dopamine hit.

There are also stronger links in particular songs. The first track, Addicted to you, comes across as very light-hearted, and I hope I won’t be accused of making light of a serious problem. But despite the slightly flippant approach, I was really thinking about the way that so many apps and platforms are designed explicitly to cause us to become addicted these days. I am certainly not immune to this – in fact, I am terribly susceptible to being sucked in to maintain daily streaks! I have to say that I have recovered from my addictions to Duolingo and Pokemon Go, but I’m still hooked on closing my fitness rings and have been known to complete them by waving my hand in the air – which shows that I’m not doing it in order to increase my fitness, but for the buzz of seeing the goal ticked off.

Shopping is not something that normally hooks me, but when it comes to Maiocchi, my favourite store, it’s a different story. And then there’s peanut butter, running, Physiocise, Conditn, singing, and many more… all things that it feels like I can’t live without. My kids did point out that they didn’t feature in the song while our pets did… I reminded them of Labour of love, ALL about my love of them, and thankfully they seem to be appeased!

Some of the other songs also reference some of my obsessions. For example, Legacy, a song about my parents, touches on to running, songwriting and genealogy research. And another song with strong links to the album title is ADHD brain (coming soon!). ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is associated with a deficiency of dopamine, and ADHDers tend to do a lot of dopamine-seeking in various ways.

I’d be really curious to know what topics you would write about if you were releasing an album entitled Dopamine? Would they be about the satisfaction of auditing and alphabetising the spice rack, as a friend of mine shared recently, or planning a holiday in minute detail? Hit me with your favourite dopamine providing activities, and come along on a journey of exploration with me to discover some of mine!